Getting round Beamish on Public Transport

The theme Dawn has chosen for this week’s Monochrome Madness is Transport. That’s a bit of a facer. I’m not the sort of person who ever thinks to take a shot of a car, or be part of a cluster round someone’s state-of-the-art motor bike. I only notice trains or buses if they’re late, and you’ll never catch me on a bicycle.

So my best bet seems to be a visit to the past, and a trip we took last year to Beamish, a wonderful open air museum,  telling the story of life in North East England during the 1820s, 1900s, 1940s and 1950s.

The site is huge, and public (well, public to those who’d paid to get in) transport a necessity. We had fun popping on and off trams, trolleybuses, and single decker buses, and inspecting the bicycles of delivery boys.

My feature photo shows no trams and bikes. There are tramlines, but what it illustrates is the most common form of transport there is, world-wide. Shanks’s pony. I’m not sure if this phrase has spread as a description of walking beyond the UK, nor am I sure of its origins. There ARE various theories on the internet: but I believe none of them.

Here’s a gallery of all the transport we used as we explored this site.

Trams …

… and buses …

… and bikes.

And does a merry-go-round horse count as transport? My granddaughter thought so.

And here’s a final photo, as evening drew in, and people hurried onto whatever form of transport they could find to take them towards the car park, and their journey home.

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Author: margaret21

I'm retired and live in North Yorkshire, where I walk , write, volunteer and travel as often as I can.

56 thoughts on “Getting round Beamish on Public Transport”

  2. That sounds a really interesting place to spend a day wandering down memory lane. What a great idea, I’m assuming it’s a whole village transformed into the various eras

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    1. Some buildings were already on site, others have been moved there. It’s a busy day there, seeing all that it offers from a colliery to a visit to the hairdresser. But the ticket that you buy on the day lasts all year. So we’re going back soon.

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  5. Black and white photography works so well for these. I particularly like the ones with the conductor on board. I took my boys to Beamish 30 years ago and they loved it. Especially the double swings.

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  7. I remember your post from last year, it looks like a wonderful place to get lost in the past or if you are younger, climb on large trucks, trams, trains, and things once moved, or maybe a few still move. As an adult, I would be reading the information about the transportation of the day, but likely have to keep an eye on the children. What a lovely post, I was thinking I don’t take photos of transportation equipment, but I do. Have a Happy Wednesday.

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    1. I too hadn’t been for years (maybe even as many as 30) and there is indeed plenty more to explore. As tickets last a whole year, we’re off again in about a fortnight while we still can.

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  14. I quite agree when you say ‘I only notice trains or buses if they’re late, and you’ll never catch me on a bicycle.’ That’s me too! So what a great idea to focus on Beamish, one of my favourite places 😀 In fact I’ll have one photo from there in my post tomorrow – great minds and all that! By the way, did you know that the motor cycle works in your opening shot was used in filming Downton Abbey?

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    1. I didn’t! Mind you, I’ve never seen Downton Abbey … Off to Beamish with photo club in a fortnight so I’ll have to see what else I can find this time, Trying to guess what your shot’ll be of now …

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  16. We too went to Beamish for the first time in decades last year. I remember it from the very early days and it has grown so much. The addition of the 1950s village is disconcerting. One of my earlier memories is visiting the baby clinic with my mum and little sister and the one in the museum was so familiar. I think my dad might have had some involvement in relocating a Methodist church there.

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    1. So your family is part of the museum’s history? And yes, having a whole section of my past in a museum is a bit devastating. I didn’t think I was THAT old 😉.

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